In medical non-invasive therapy system in particular radiotherapy systems, such as conventional linear accelerators or MR Linac systems, the patient anatomy being treated or imaged should be aligned with the radiation isocentre as accurate as possible for each and every set up and each treatment fraction. One source of potential inaccuracy in the alignment is the repositioning of the bed on which the patient rests. As many medical systems require the patient to be placed into an enclosed and confined space, hereinafter called treatment bore, the patient must be set up for treatment outside the treatment bore and then transported into the treatment bore for the medical treatment to begin. Therefore, the bed must be movable between these two locations and positionable to a high degree of accuracy as misalignment during set up may entail that the patient will need to be removed from the medical radiotherapy system and realigned before treatment can commence, and thus wasting time and resources.
It is also of very high importance that the patient positioning is as stable as possible during the movement as well during the treatment or imaging. Hence, the position of the bed in treatment bore in the medical radiotherapy system must be very stable. The process of moving the bed from its support outside the medical radiotherapy system into the treatment bore inside the medical radiotherapy system itself requires careful alignment with the treatment table of the system as well as high degree of stability.
Furthermore, it is also important that the process patient set up and of moving the bed from its support outside the medical radiotherapy system into the treatment space inside the medical radiotherapy system is secure for the patient and easy to handle for the medical staff. The risk of patient injuries must be minimized during movement as well as during treatment in order to provide as high patient security as possible and minimize risk for patient movements during treatment.
Moreover, in medical non-invasive therapy systems, in particular in MR Linac systems, it is of very high importance that all material in the treatment bore or treatment volume is known and taken into account in the planning system. As all material will absorb radiation dose, it is important to reduce the material present in the treatment bore as much as possible and it is also important that the positions of material structures are known.
In summary, there is a number of important factors to take into account when designing a movable bed and treatment table for use in medical radiotherapy systems, such as MR Linac systems. It is of particular importance to make sure that the patient, the patient anatomy and the treatment volume is positioned as accurate and stable as possible. The accuracy and stability require a very reliable positioning of the patient on the patient bed and in some applications a very accurate tracking of the patient during treatment. In addition there is a need for providing good quality imaging when tracking the patient. When using magnetic resonance imaging systems for this it is thus important to position the coil in a stable and accurate position while at the same time ensuring a rather good handling of the system during set up and removal of the patient.